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There are several monuments found in Roman Thrace, influenced by the portraits of Alexander the Great. Head of a young man from Augusta Trayana imitates the famous type Alexander Schwarzenberg, but has whiskers and slight moustaches and a beard. May be this was a statue or a bust of the Paliatus type. The date is the second quarter of 2nd c. AD. The nearest parallels are the heads from Wienna in the Collection Schwarzenberg and the head from Monte Rotondo. Probably this was a private portrait, an imitation of Alexander the Great (imitatio Alexandri). A small statuette from the village of Zagortzi, district Nova Zagora, published by L. Ognenova-Marinova, is connected with another statue - one by Lysippos, namely Alexander-Heracles or another deity. L. Ognenova-Marinova suggested that this was a statue of Alexander-Pan and that he was holding a spear in the same hand with the mantel. But neither the position of the hands nor the laking of horns as attributes of Pan support it. The third numerous group of monuments reflects the equestrian statue of Lysippos, created after the battle at Granik, in votive steles and tomb steles and in small bronze votive statuettes where always presents the Thracian Horseman or Heros, generally from 1st -3th cc. AD. A very complex process preceded the synthesis between the Late Classical, Hellenistic, Thracian and Roman in the traditions of equestrian statue. The last group of monuments reflects the type of Alexander, created by Hellenistic sculptors with long curly hairs as a hero, god or personification. Two heads from Philippopolis, one published, imitate this type, in spite of the fact, that it is considered to be earlier and connected with Triptolemos. According to our opinion, it may be also a reflection of Alexander-Dionysos and Alexander-Helios. The Hellenistic cult of Alexander the Great was very strong in Thrace because of the concrete historical circumstances: his father founded Philippopolis, they both invaded Thrace or passed through it several times and after Alexander's death Lysimahos ruled over it. In Roman Thrace namely in Philippopolis games were organized under the name Alexandria, known at the time of Caracalla. The portraits of Alexander here turned to be un universalia for all levels of imperial propaganda, cult and sepulchral art in official, everyday and private life.
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The article discusses only these two vessels from the treasure of Nagyszent-miklos with the aim to reconsider once again their shape, function, semantics and attribution to a certain art tradition. The shape is compared to different examples of the Ancient Near Eastern tradition and Sasanian art, Chinese tradition as represented by prehistoric vessels and these from the T'ang period, and examples from the Middle Asian Steppe tradition. The function of the vessels is defined as a cup, however, not certainly for wine, but for another possible use of storing certain sacred liquid or hard substance. The semantics of the image of the bull is discussed as associated with different meanings and rituals. A sacral function of the vessels is suggested in relation to the Old Indo-Iranian festival of Nauruz and other possible connotations in rites of passage as marriage and royal inauguration. The supposition, referring the artistic tradition that created the vessels, considers their possible belonging to a Middle Asian workshop, where the old Sasanian tradition was kept but assimilated and continued in the early Islamic metalwork tradition of the first decades of the Buyid rule.The article discusses only these two vessels from the treasure of Nagyszent-Miklos with the aim to reconsider once again their shape, function, semantics and attribution to a certain art tradition. The shape is compared to different examples of the Ancient Near Eastern tradition and Sasanian art, Chinese tradition as represented by prehistoric vessels and these from the T'ang period, and examples from the Middle Asian Steppe tradition. The function of the vessels is defined as a cup, however, not certainly for wine, but for another possible use of storing certain sacred liquid or hard substance. The semantics of the image of the bull is discussed as associated with different meanings and rituals. A sacral function of the vessels is suggested in relation to the Old Indo-Iranian festival of Nauruz and other possible connotations in rites of passage as marriage and royal inauguration. The supposition, referring the artistic tradition that created the vessels, considers their possible belonging to a Middle Asian workshop, where the old Sasanian tradition was kept but assimilated and continued in the early Islamic metalwork tradition of the first decades of the Buyid rule.
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Bulgarian cinema developed during the totalitarian period an extensive film epos about the central myth of the communist Utopia - the myth of the so-called positive hero, determined to destroy the old world, and to impose a new social order. This myth, adopted from the Soviet culture as an element of the social-realistic aesthetic, had been modified on Bulgarian screen accordingly to national characteristics and reality changes. The Hero evolved from a Warrior to a Demiurge in several films, shot from 1950’s to 1990’s. Following the ideological transformations, he appeared as a Victim, Martyr and Saint of the Utopia, acting in narratives which shifted from the metaphor of ultimate combat to the allegory of a permanent fight. Bulgarian cinema had an ambivalent approach to the Hero’s metamorphosis from a rebel to a victorious ruler (the archetypal transition from a Warrior to a King.) The few films dealing with this conversion put queries to the opposition Utopian myth/social reality - therefore, in most cases, these works were disapproved by the censorship and their authors suffered political condemnation. The political changes in the 1990’s started a process of discrediting the Utopian Hero. The new Bulgarian films criticized exactly the Hero’s position of power and opened a discussion about the methods with which the Utopia had been imposed on society. Regarding the style, the most of these last decade films are still bound to a social-realistic aesthetic. Distracting the Utopian myth, Bulgarian film-makers simply reversed the opposition's of the totalitarian cinema and kept using the old formulas, stuffing them with opposite contents.
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